LeBron signed for eight million dollars, MZT Skopje complains about the three-foreigners rule

Real Madrid took the first EuroLeague Super Cup, Olympiacos fell by four

European basketball's new trophy has its first owner, in a rerun of last year's final. Real Madrid beat Olympiacos 93:89 (24:15, 23:28, 28:29, 18:17) to become the first EuroLeague Super Cup champions. Walter Tavares was named tournament MVP with a modest six points and seven rebounds - proof the award is not handed out on statistics alone. The Spaniards led by nine after the first quarter, the Greeks hit back with 28 points in the second, and the game stayed open until the final seconds: Evan Fournier hit a three to make it minus two with 1:15 left, before Andrés Feliz restored the lead with a hook shot. Sasha Vezenkov and Fournier then missed from three. Real's top scorer was Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot with 12 points, while Facundo Campazzo, on just seven points, handed out nine assists and posted the team's highest index - 17. Vezenkov scored 22 points and it was not enough.

Curry admits he recruited LeBron - and LeBron went to Philadelphia

Stephen Curry confirmed he personally tried to bring LeBron James to Golden State this summer. "If somebody did not try, I think they are a fool," Curry said. And he is right - LeBron became the biggest name on the market after telling the Lakers on 30 June that he would not be continuing. The Warriors had the room: Draymond Green declined a 27.7 million dollar player option. In the end the 41-year-old signed with the Philadelphia 76ers - a two-year deal worth around eight million dollars with a player option for the second season. Eight million. For LeBron James. That is not a market price, that is a choice. Golden State had chased him once before, ahead of the 2024 trade deadline, and again came away empty-handed. Some transfers are not settled with money, which is exactly why they are the hardest to predict.

Lessort left the door open for a return to Partizan

Mathias Lessort, the Panathinaikos centre, is working under Željko Obradović again after the Serbian coach returned to Athens this summer. "When you play for Željko, that stays with you forever," the Frenchman told Mozzart Sport. They were together at Partizan, where Lessort played perhaps the best season of his career - 2022/23, EuroLeague first team, top of the league with 7.1 rebounds a game and second by index with 19.1. But what he said about Belgrade is more interesting: "The bond I have with the people there is unbreakable. Not only with the fans, but with the organisation." And then he left the door open for another chapter on Humska. A player openly saying he may return to a club in the region while playing for the richest rival in Greece - in the Balkans that is not sentimentality, it is a message to two audiences at once.

MZT Skopje announces ABA-2 and complains about the three-foreigners rule

The reigning Macedonian champion presented ALTA banka as its new sponsor at a press conference at Jane Sandanski and immediately put its cards on the table. The aim is not just domestic dominance - it is first place in the ABA-2 league and entry into the elite Adriatic company. This season the club returns to FIBA competition as well, so it is playing on three fronts. Board chairman Nikola Trajčevski says a serious squad rebuild has been done, with young internationals alongside the experienced Damjan and Vojdan. But the most interesting part of his remarks was not about sponsorship: "Nowhere in the region, or further afield, is there a league where the number of foreigners is limited to three. I do not see the long-term vision behind this decision." So the club that is meant to carry Macedonian basketball into the region is publicly saying the domestic rule ties its hands. Will anyone at the Federation answer that, or does this stay a sentence from a press conference?

Dimitrijević is building his place under Spanoulis

Nenad Dimitrijević continues to play well in pre-season. The Macedonian playmaker was part of Aris's 80:64 win over Mykonos at the Mavroskoheia tournament, where in 20 minutes on court he scored nine points with two rebounds and two assists. It is a friendly, and that should be said - but what is built in September gets cashed in March. Coach Vassilis Spanoulis, a man who as a player knew every crack in Greek basketball, clearly counts on him as one of the team's key players. For Macedonian basketball, a player with a settled role at a serious Greek club is worth more than any press conference about ambitions. The only question is how long the trust lasts once the matches that count begin.